Causal Impact of Exam Problem Context on Student Performance: A Generalized Linear Mixed Model Approach

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 35
  In Roundtable Session: Application of Factor Analysis

Abstract

In educational assessments, item context usually defines a scenario or provides a description of a practical problem, a natural phenomenon, or a lab setup. This paper examines how differing problem contexts influence students’ test performance on a physics exam with a collection of 383 grade 7 students. Three item contexts were defined based on increasing richness: The least contextualized (A), Contextualized (C). and Contextualized and Illustrated (CI). Results show that using contextualized items improves students’ test performance, while adding illustrations in addition to context does not necessarily bring in additional benefits. Meanwhile, a joint effect of contexts and topics is detected as students who received contextualized (C) items performed better with the Force and Motion topic than the Energy topic.

Authors

• Dongsheng Dong, University of Washington - Seattle

• Yuan Hsiao, University of Washington

• Luca Weihs, University of Washington

• Min Li, University of Washington

• Jim Minstrell, FACET Innovations

• Maria Araceli Ruiz-Primo, Stanford University

• Xiaoming Zhai, University of Georgia